Some 6.3 Offensive Tips.

[Ben E Lou]

Some folks in MP simply don't play SP, and are struggling to adjust. This isn't intended as a comprehensive strategy guide, but just to be some tips that might put people on the right track a little more quickly.

First and foremost, the most important thing to know and understand is that all appearances are that the specific talent bars of your players are mattering much more than they used to.

Know that every bit of stats, tips, and information in this post is subject to the bars. For example, yes, screen passing is improved, but if you don't have a QB who is strong in screen/accuracy, and a RB who is strong in route running/getting downfield, screen passing won't be much improved for you. (It might even be worse if your guys are poor in those skills.)

WHAT WORKS BETTER THAN IT USED TO?

• RUNNING THE FOOTBALL--IHOF (9 weeks), WOOF (16 weeks), OSFL (11 weeks), PFL (~17 weeks), IFL (4 weeks), and USFL (10 weeks) have all experienced all-time record-high yards per carry. It's up somewhere in the 4.45-4.50 range.
• SCREEN PASSES--YPA on screen passes is up ~10%. Yards per *catch* on screen passes is up even more, approx 20%. Expect the average completed screen pass to gain around 6.4 yards now, up from around 5.3.
• YAC IN GENERAL--YAC per catch is up roughly 50%, from roughly 2.3 pre 6.3, to around 3.5 these days.
• THE FULLBACK--No, you're not going to be able to build an offense around the FB, but it's not unusual to see a stud FB now put up 40 carries for 200 yards, 50 catches for 400 yards (and 7ypt), and 15 for 30 KRB with 5 or 6 pancake blocks.

WHAT WORKS WORSE THAN IT USED TO?

• RED ZONE PASSING--The days of throwing 50 TDs per year by cranking up your passing adjustments in the red zone are *over*. In 6.2 and previous versions, all indications were that passing in the red zone worked no differently than passing anywhere else on the field. Completion percentage was in the 68-72% range in the red zone from the time it was tracked in 6.0 up until the release of 6.3. It's now in the 50-55% range. Much more like real life, it becomes harderto throw the ball when you have the shortened field in the red zone.
• MEDIUM PASSES (9-18 yards)--Completion percentage is down (was in the upper 50s/low 60s, now down around 50%) and yards per catch are up, surely due to YAC. Overall ypa is down a bit on these, but not tremendously. This can make a big difference on 3rd and 8ish.

WHAT WORKS DIFFERENTLY, NOT NECESSARILY BETTER OR WORSE?

• SHORT PASSES (0-8 yards)--This has changed quite a bit, despite overall numbers (ypa) remaining roughly static from 6.2 to 6.3. The big shift is that completion percentage of short passes has dropped significantly, from the upper 70s to the upper 60s, but yards per *catch* on short passes is up 10-15%--roughly a full yard per catch. Therefore, short passing is less consistent, but more explosive. You can no longer build a game plan based on moving the ball steadily down the field completing short passes at a near-80% clip, but if you have a playmaker at WR, he's always a threat to turn that 7-yard pass into a long TD.
• (UNTESTED THEORY BASED ON OBSERVATION ONLY): I'M PRETTY SURE THAT LONGER PASSES NOW GENERATE MORE INTERCEPTIONS THAN SHORTER PASSES, AND I *THINK* THAT THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM PAST VERSIONS--In previous versions, I could never see any difference in interceptions from short and long passing game plans. Now I believe I'm seeing some differences. As far as completion percentage and ypa, I'm not sure that long passing has changed much in those areas. If it has, it isn't by much.
• IT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO RUN THE BALL WELL. I tend to think this for a couple of reasons. First off, the lowered success of medium-distance passing in particular means there's much more of a difference between 3rd and 4 and 3rd and 8 than there used to be. Second, a successful running game in FOF has always improved passing efficiency. And with efficiency being down, anything to increase it is going to be useful.

ANY SPECIFICS ON BUILDING AN OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN?

A few things...

• I'm finding myself sticking in a pretty narrow window in terms of run/pass split on 1st and 10--pretty much always 45-60%.
• It's best to keep your run percentage in roughly the 35-65% range in most other places (2nd & 3rd and Long would be obvious exceptions there.).
• As far as managing distance, I'm seeing two general ways to approach that.
  • You can stay close to Rex on the Basic Screen, which will mean that you're in Run or Short Pass roughly 85% of the time on 1st and ten. If you do that, your not-so-common downfield passes can be mostly downfield. (Rex usually likes something in the neighborhood of 40-25-20-10-5.) I recommend considering this option if you have good receivers at RB/FB. They'll get it more.
  • If you choose to go with "Long" more often on the Basic screen, your Misc. settings for "Long" passes should be more conservative. Maybe start with something like 50-35-10-4-1. I recommend this option if you want the great majority of your passes to go to the TE/WR/WR. (If you're looking for more TE/WR/WR, you'll also want either low-RR FB/RB, or to really avoid screen and 0-4 when you throw "short.")
• This isn't new to 6.3, but in general, I'm not a fan of Rex for the Formation Usage screens. For example, if it's 3rd and 9 and you are throwing 95% of the time ("Extreme Passing Situations"), do you *ever* want to use the I or Strong/Weak with the TE there? Probably not, but using Rex, you'll get one of those ~15% of the time. Or if it's 3rd and 1 and you've got it set to run 75% of the time, do you ever want to be in a 3-WR set? Rex would have you in one ~10% of the time.
• A more conservative game plan does seem to work in minimizing sacks, interceptions, and QB hurries. If you have an INT-prone QB, or one who has horrid Sense Rush, consider how you might manage that in your game plan.

Hope this helps. Feel free to add to this, or ask questions.

[Jughead Spock]

Your offensive line is more important than ever, across the board. Hurries seem to be up significantly, a large part of the downturn in completion percentage. Also, as Ben said, the running game is more effective, so put those pieces in place.

Just to completely hammer it in, it feels like *all* bars matter more. Where I've noticed this most is Avoid Drops and Adjust to Ball in WRs. I think those are also key for higher completion percentages.

Feels like the TEs are the ones that took the biggest hit offensively. Still struggling to find the best way to maximize them in post-6.2 world. I don't think they've been nerfed, just a side effect of all the above.

[Hammer]

I largely agree with what your saying Ben. I would add that interceptions have actually always been more common the longer the route.

[MrDNA]

So basically, the kind of offense I'd been trying to build for years and gave up on... now works. :facepalm:

[Celeval]

Yeah... I dumped my high-price offensive linemen one season too early. *bangs head*

[bsc29]

Has the strategy around run directions changed with the new version? I usually had the most success with a heavy weight for outside runs and an even spread (18-18-7-7-7-7-18-18) regardless of where my team's talents were. Is run success more accurately reflecting bars as well? For example, will you get noticably better yardage running inside left tackle vs. inside right tackle if your left side has better run blocking skill? Are speed inside and power inside playing a bigger role for backs?

[Caratacus]

Just a quick look, but it appears that running heavily outside (or Inside) is not a good idea.

Only run a few seasons of each scenario, rexing & running to your strength generated on average around 4.2ypc. While running heavily outside (& inside) averaged around 3.6 ypc.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by bsc29

Has the strategy around run directions changed with the new version? I usually had the most success with a heavy weight for outside runs and an even spread (18-18-7-7-7-7-18-18) regardless of where my team's talents were. Is run success more accurately reflecting bars as well? For example, will you get noticably better yardage running inside left tackle vs. inside right tackle if your left side has better run blocking skill? Are speed inside and power inside playing a bigger role for backs?

I don't know about OL skills, but I suspect RB skills are more important now in the success of inside or outside running. In general it seems like inside running is more successful and outside running less than in the past, but I haven't tested it yet and can't say for sure